sneak peek: rocío fueyo

rocío fueyo, an advertising art director in madrid, spain, has always had a love for interior design. longing to decorate a blank space from top to bottom, rocio’s all-white apartment became the perfect opportunity. the neighborhood where rocío lives, malasaña, was originally created as low income housing, but has become the “it” place for creative people to live, open shops and start restaurants and galleries. the apartment was originally 40 square meters with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and only three windows so rocío decided to redesign and draft the new space herself. she started by painting all the beams white (all 40 of them!) and then opened up the space between the ceiling and the roof, which increased the size of the apartment by 25% . though the project took a few years to finish, rocío is now thrilled with her custom-designed space. click here to see more of rocío’s inspiring space! –anne

[above: The living room is mostly decorated, as is the rest of the house, with furniture from the 1970s- like the big orange sideboard from my dad’s old office. The R lamp is from a company that changed its name and threw away the old letters. On the shelf are two self made collages, a big frame with nine of my pictures, and two small photographs – one from Miguel Trillo and the other from Christine Spengler. On the right side are the beginning of the stairs that leads to my work desk and bedroom.]

This is a small corner from the living room where I wanted to play a bit with the floor colors. The floor is plain wood and it has two darker wooden stains to create lines. The lamp in this room is from IKEA and I bought the furniture on the right in a antique shop (the table was originally used to display panties in a shop!). The 1970s telephone on the table still works and to the left of it is my tv collection. I’m not very fond of watching tv, but I’m very fond of tv design.

Downstairs I have a living room without a full ceiling, so you can see some of the upper floor. From this room you can get to the kitchen, bathroom, and a small dressing room. Upstairs I have two separate areas (with two separate staircases): a bedroom for friends who want to stay over and my own office/bedroom space.

This is the main bedroom, decorated in white and orange like the living room, as they are connected. I didn’t have a lot of space so I decided to build something that works as beside table without actually having one. On top if it i have a working 70s telephone I bought in Berlin, a photograph I took, a lamp – the only object that I kept from the original house – and some old metal toys.

This is the bathroom, decorated in white with a few red details. The bathroom has a very big shower; it was so large I had to have a base specially made for it.

Sorry, I want to love it because it’s in Madrid but it looks to me like it’s wrapped in a Kodak film box. I love orange, but this orange feels acid-y and painful and kindof artifical like Sunny Delight. But I do like the open stairs and bathroom sink ;)

Hi! I love the place!! I have a question the stairs to the loft how was that done? I love that Idea and think it would be great for my loft since it doesn’t take up much space. Is there somewhere I can I go to see how it was done or what I would need to do the stairs like that? Thanks!! :)

The stairs are done in two different materials, the structure is metal and the steps are wood. I made the calcutation of the length and high I had and then the space of each step, for a confortable going up/down. I hope this helps

@Christine Rothenberg
The light that I understand you asked about, the metal one hanging over the sideboard, comes from a 60s pharmacy/chemist in my street. They decided to renew the whole place and I asked them to have one. (I know them from all my life, so they gave it to me)

If you asked about the 9 bulbs by the table, they come directly from the wall.

I am a casting director for HGTV in the USA, and this house is beautiful! We would love for it to be featured on a design show that starts filming in Madrid in May 2011. Please contact me if you are interested at
I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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